SACKED paramedic Ian Fitzgerald believes he is ready for a long fight to bring his former employers to account.

Mr Fitzgerald, of Barn Glebe, Trowbridge, said he was desperate to get back to work as a trainee paramedic with the Royal Berkshire Ambulance Trust, after being cleared of killing a teacher as he raced to a 999 call in Newbury.

But bosses dismissed the 29-year-old for gross misconduct and bringing the service into disrepute earlier this month.

Union representatives are backing Mr Fitzgerald's appeal to take the trust to an industrial tribunal to fight to win his job back.

He said: "It is a process I never thought I would find myself in. I am committed to going through with everything. They should be held accountable for their actions the same as I have been.

"I have had my ups and downs. It has affected my whole family. The trial itself was absolutely awful. I have spent my whole life avoiding that situation." Teacher Rosemary Fenney died when Mr Fitz-gerald's ambulance went through a red light and crashed into her Peugeot 206 side-on in October 2002.

Last year he was cleared of causing her death by dangerous driving after a trial at Reading Crown Court.

Speaking about the pressure on paramedics and lack of support mechanisms for staff when things go wrong, Mr Fitzgerald said: "There was a lot of pressure within my job. Everything is statistic- orientated and we have to meet these deadlines.

"You not only have a duty of care to the management but you have to think of the person on the other end of the call. If we have a cardiac arrest you effectively have three minutes before the brain starts to die.

"It is all very well the government giving us an eight-minute response time, but that is not in the real world.

"You expect a certain degree of support from your managers when it all goes wrong.

"I have had no support and this is the main crux of my complaint."

He added: "I absolutely loved my job. I am still a member of the Red Cross and have been for 12 years. It was everything to me and more.

"I was building myself up to going back. That was my coping mechanism and they shut the door on me."

Mr Fitzgerald said his forthcoming marriage to fiance Jenny in September has helped him keep a grip on reality. The couple are expecting a baby in April.